The Turkic majority-Muslim Uighur minority in China’s Xinjiang region faces arbitrary detentions, daily restrictions on religious practice and “forced political indoctrination” in a mass security crackdown, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
Read More

Turkey pins hopes on cleric Sadr to form Iraqi government

As a variety of serious issues between Baghdad and Ankara are put on hold while Iraq forms a new government, Turkey maintains a close watch on political developments in the neighboring state.
Read More

China thinks Islam is a disease, and Muslim leaders don’t care

Should the crackdown on the country’s Uighur population go unchallenged, such policies could easily be replicated by other countries looking to repress minorities.
Read More

Turkey seeks to detain 102 over suspected links to cleric

Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have issued detention warrants for 102 people, including military officers, over their suspected links to a US-based Muslim cleric who is blamed by Ankara for a failed coup attempt in 2016.
Read More

U.S. Weighs Sanctions Against Chinese Officials Over Muslim Detention Camps

The Trump administration is considering sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies to punish Beijing for the detention of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other minority Muslims in large internment camps, according to current and former American officials.
Read More

Macron to review report calling for reform of Islam in France

Emmanuel Macron follows in the footsteps of those who have tried, and failed, to establish an ‘Islam of France.’
Read More

China to regulate online religious activity amid crackdown

China is rolling out new rules on internet-based religious activity amid an ongoing crackdown on churches, mosques, and other institutions by the officially atheist Communist Party.
Read More

Egypt freezes more than 1,000 alleged Muslim Brotherhood charities

An Egyptian judicial committee on Tuesday announced an asset freeze on more than 1,000 charities tied to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, as well as those of hospitals and individuals.
Read More

Al-Qaida leader urges Muslims to fight US across the world

Marking the 17th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to wage war against the United States throughout the world.
Read More

Iran government takes crucial step toward ending education discrimination

President Hassan Rouhani approved a bill expanding educational opportunities to ‘starred students’ and sent the piece of legislation to the Iranian parliament.
Read More

French think tank calls for 'halal tax' on Muslims

An Institut Montaigne report entitled ‘The Islamist Factory’ has recommendations for President Macron, who wants to redefine relations between Islam and the state
Read More

Movie Theaters and Women Driving Won’t Placate Saudi Shiites

Reforms pushed by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman do not ease institutional discrimination against Saudi Shiites, with conditions for the community degrading in recent years.
Read More

Saudi Arabia raises $2 billion with new Islamic bonds

The Kingdom’s second international sale of sukuk, part of a commitment to “Shariah-compliant debt capital markets,” achieved the Ministry of Finance’s goal for 2018.
Read More

Turkish court rejects bid to convert Hagia Sophia to mosque

Turkey’s highest court rejected a religious group’s request to reconvert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque; movements calling for the museum’s reopening as a mosque have greatly increased in the past two decades.
Read More

Chinese official says China is educating, not mistreating, Muslims

Disagreeing with international human rights organizations, Chinese officials denied widespread reports of arbitrary detentions and internment camps in Xinjiang province; a government official stated that the government was instead promoting training courses to combat extremism.
Read More

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince must restore dignity to his country — by ending Yemen’s cruel war

Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has diminished its standing on the international stage and increased -rather than solved- security issues stemming from well-armed Houthi rebels, according to journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Read More

Iran orders closure of newspaper for 'insulting' Shia Islam

An article on gender reassignment surgery led Iran’s top prosecutor to order the closure of a reformist newspaper; according to the government official, the article insulted the family of the Prophet.
Read More

Iraq parliament elects Sunni lawmaker al-Halbousi as speaker, breaking deadlock

The election of Sunni lawmaker Mohammed al-Halbousi to the position of speaker comes after a two week delay in voting, stemming from parliamentary elections that did not produce a clear win for any political party.
Read More

Iraq's Abadi under fire from pro-Iran political factions

While political parties are attempting to build a majority coalition in the wake of inconclusive parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Units have been increasingly at odds over the influence of Iran and the United States in Iraqi politics.
Read More

Indian Muslims protest China’s detention of Uighur Muslims

After Friday prayers, a group of 150 Indian Muslims staged a protest in Mumbai, condemning the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
Read More

Iraq's religious tourism suffers from US sanctions on Iran

The number of Iranian religious tourists traveling to Iraq has decreased substantially due to US sanctions on Iran, damaging an Iraqi tourism industry dependent on pilgrims observing Ashura, a day commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein.
Read More

$1.5M settlement for Muslim workers fired in prayer dispute

Cargill Meat Solutions reached a settlement with hundreds of workers who were fired after the company rescinded a policy covering breaks for prayer; the Teamsters union local also reached a settlement after failing to advocate for the employees.
Read More

Ankara oddly quiet on China's alleged torture of Uighurs

Contrasting past condemnation and activism, the Turkish government and the Turkish media have largely ignored the Chinese government’s widespread use of repressive mechanisms against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.
Read More

Push to Execute Saudi Clerics Rattles Kingdom’s Power Structure

The efforts of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and his son Mohammed to fight corruption and consolidate power have expanded to seeking the death penalty for religious scholars and threaten the complex relationship between clerics and the royal family.
Read More